Migrants risk lives, take river route to beat border vigil
MEERUT: Desperate to return home to their villages in Bihar and other states, a large number of migrant workers have risked their lives and waded through waist-high water of the Yamuna from Haryana to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh over the past few days in order to avoid the heavily guarded border checkpoints.
Making the most of the situation, a group of people living on the riverbank is charging each migrant Rs 50 to Rs 100 to help them navigate their way through the water, the migrants have alleged. At least one local guides them through the water and the migrants follow him. The Yamuna river demarcates the border between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in Saharanpur district.
“Each member of our group paid them Rs 50 for their help in crossing the river. Otherwise, we could have drowned,” said Ranjeet Sahni, a resident of Parjilwa village in Bihar’s Motihari district. He was a factory worker in Jagadhri town of Haryana before the lockdown led to suspension of work at his unit.
“We risked our life, but had no option,” said Ranjeet, claiming that it had become a thriving business for many in Haryana to charge money from the migrants in this manner.
The locals were well aware of the shallow stretches of the river and they were using this knowledge to their advantage, he said. Despite the risk, a large number of migrants could be seen taking the river route.
After the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 25, Ranjeet stayed back in Jagadhri because his wife Babita was pregnant.
Gradually, his small savings dried up. On his asking, his family members gave him Rs 9,000 in two installments in the past one month. When that money also started to run out, the couple began walking with 14 other fellow labourers in the hope of reaching their native village in Bihar.
On coming to know from others that police were not allowing migrant workers to enter Saharanpur district, they arrived on the Yamuna bank in Haryana. There, the migrant workers came in contact with a group of locals who were ready to help them make their way through the relatively safer portions of the river, albeit for a price.
Like Ranjeet Sahni and his wife, thousands of labourers are arriving here every day from
Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir en route to their villages in Bihar and other states after their factories closed. Sanjay Kumar, divisional commissioner of Saharanpur, admitted that many migrants were venturing into Saharanpur through the river and it was very difficult to check their movement on such a large river bed.
An officer, who asked not to be named, said officials from Haryana were handing over migrants of Uttar Pradesh to state officials at the border. “We are making arrangements to send them back to their respective villages and towns,” he said.
A few thousand labourers were intercepted and kept in a shelter home of Saharanpur before they were sent to Bihar on Shramik special trains. Sanjay Kumar said over 2,500 labourers were sent to Bihar in the past two days after seeking approval from the Bihar government and over 4,500 labourers were now being sent by buses.